Growing Greater Together!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Great News! The good life will soon return to America. Auspiciously, months before the holiday shopping season began, Americans were told that after more than a year of fiscal recession, or what some have characterized as akin to an economic depression, consumers were optimistic. The confidence index and other indicatorswere much improved. Manufacturing executives assured the public, the engine that drives the free enterprise system was in a "sustainable recovery mode." In the very near future, products, and people's sense of need, would be fabricated again. Everything will be right with the world, economically. Few feared the threat that, long ago, Americans had come to accept. The foundation of a democratic system had eroded in favor of consumption.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

For but a moment, whilst the Group of 20 [G20] met in London's ancient financial capital, ,"The City," the roars of remorse, could be heard. Words of woe had been whispered in hushed tones for quite some time. Scholars spoke of various possibilities on occasion. Whether Senior Economic Fellows from various think-tanks thought a system to be dead, alive, or near doomed, there was perhaps a bit of agreement. "I see what you mean. It is broken," Economist Mark Thoma mused more than a year ago.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Tis Sunday, September 28, 2008. The weather is warm and word on the streets is warmer. Fire from Hades, fervor, and fury heat the debate heard on the streets and in the halls of Congress. Businesses fail. Banks do too. Bailouts are planned and these too falter. Those in the White House are red hot with concern. People in Treasury Department and within Secretary Henry Paulson's office sense the burn. Many fear they too will be scorched. The flames are intense on the Hill. Yet, on American avenues many feel, while inflamed by the rhetoric, chilled at the prospect that this immediate need for a bailout is but a hoax or perchance, just hype.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Tis true. For days, if not weeks, months, or years the country has been in a state of financial crisis. Americans experience what it means when the President of the United States says he will act boldly. Economically, he has been brazen. Our current Chief Executive unabashedly embraces businesses, just as he had in his private pursuits before he entered the Oval Office. Bush policies allow corporations to run free. If need be, he says, as he did early on in his Administration, Let the bailouts begin.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

He is ninety years young. Born in 1918, Alexander recalls the Great Depression. He understands why some thought the Bush Forty-One years were worse than the days after the crash in 1929, although no one ever admitted to that. Now, near two decades later, denial of economic despair remains intact. Alex wonders if only history paints a truer picture. Possibly, when he was but a boy, people did not accept that the crash was the big one. In retrospect do we realize . . . Alex wonders aloud; in recent months, each evening he dreams of realities that were during what was defined as the most dramatic, worldwide economic downturn.

Friday, October 12, 2007

The morning broke. There was a momentary blip in the air as broadcasters spoke of the pending United Auto Workers potential strike. Was the short and sweet General Motors walkout the topic of discussion, or perhaps, the work stoppage at Chrysler was the focus. No matter; neither was of interest to Jack, a corporate executive. He received word from his accountant hours earlier; health care costs are too high. We must cut benefits. Perhaps it would be better if we eliminate a large portion of the workforce. Certainly, that would save us much money. The company must consider the stockholders. Individual buyers and brokers look at earnings and expenses.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Americans are proud of their place in history. Those residing in this nation [for the most part] are prosperous. Even citizens of lesser means have more than those in other countries. We, the people often speak of the quality that is America. Our educational institutions are excellent. Health care here is said to be the best in the world. Goods and services could not be better. That is why we often hear “Buy American.” In the United Sates, we take care of our people, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Americans are financially fat and happy. This country is great! We are known throughout the globe as a, no, the one and only superpower.

"There is a problem." However, Americans do not agree what the problem is. Sexism, racism, homophobia, violence, or the words we use to promote such social ills. For weeks, language has been in the news, on the blogs, in the airwaves, and in music-industry executives meeting rooms. Free speech is the topic in question, as is the power of words. As children, we learned that "Sticks and stones may break our bones; but names will never hurt me." In fact, the opposite is true. Words and the inferences can cause greater, and more last injuries than twigs or rocks might. The body heals far better than the heart does.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Will workers be given the choice the law provides? Might they act on a right that has was enforced seventy years ago? Will we as a nation continue to allow employers to deny citizens their Constitutional right to speak? Can we stand by while laborers are arbitrarily punished for asserting their rights?

Can we in good conscious continue to allow employers to eliminate pensions and other benefits? Must workers accept reduced wages, longer hours, and less consideration without discussion? Will grown men and women be dismissed from their place of employ if they try to increase security in the workplace? Will we as a nation permit employers to seek retribution, religiously, if an employee tries to organize? We have. Hundreds of thousands of workers were punished for attempting to unionize. Today, we must ask, ''Why does an adult man cry when he speaks of his job.' Representative George Miller tells us.